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Statins are a now famous (or infamous, depending upon your viewpoint) class of medicine used widely in American medicine. While studies do show they help reduce total and LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol and triglyceride levels, there are serious side effects to these medicines. They can lead to lethargy, headaches, muscle weakness, confusion, memory loss, and other side effects. More ominously, a recent study of Crestor (a statin drug) showed an increase in type 2 diabetes rates for those using the drug versus the control group using a placebo.

High Cholesterol Just Small Part of Cardiovascular Health Risks

Many people have the mistaken impression that high cholesterol is the biggest risk to your cardiovascular health. This isn’t likely true. There are a large variety of risks that are likely to be even more significant than high cholesterol levels. Many of them are not commonly tested for by doctors. Too many in the medical establishment have bought into “big pharma” pushing of statin drugs as the ultimate solution as they inaccurately believe high total and LDL cholesterol are the exclusive risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. As cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Michael Ozner points out in his book The Great American Heart Hoax: Lifesaving Advice Your Doctor Should Tell You About Heart Disease Prevention (But Probably Never Will), many of the therapies and surgeries for cardiovascular disease that are common in the United States are probably unnecessary, raise health care expenses, and don’t really improve overall outcomes. Much better than surgeries would be to prevent cardiovascular disease in the first place. But there are many risks that must be managed.Read more…

Every one of the cells in the human body needs a way to provide energy to power the functions of the cell. Each healthy cell has numerous mitochondria, tiny little cellular power plants that produce most of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) used as a source of chemical energy in the body. The natural enzyme CoQ10 is critical to operation of mitochondria to produce ATP, but when oxygen levels are low CoQ10 acts to create many damaging free radicals. An alternative synthetic form of CoQ10 known as idebenone has been found to not suffer from the low-oxygen induced increase in free radical production. It is being investigated for treatment of numerous diseases, especially of the cardiovascular and nervous systems in organs such as the heart and brain.Read more…